#SOL18 – WIP Chapter 21

Today’s the big day: competition day!

I’m feeling nervous.

Jacob and I travel on different busses – there is a whole high school and a whole middle school bus.

It calms me down a bit when I’m with my seventh-grade friends who have never done this before, like me.

Something keeps rattling around in my head. Something my mom said before she left from dropping us off.

“Just have fun. Don’t worry about how you place or how your events turn out. You worked hard and saw this through to competition. This part is the fun part. Just enjoy your day.”

I am wondering why she said all that stuff about having fun. Is it because she wanted me to be relaxed and do well? Or because she doesn’t think I’ll do well?

…

We arrive and start running around immediately: dropping off events, checking into events, heading to the auditorium for opening ceremonies.

I have to admit, this is a bigger deal than I realized.

Everyone is dressed up. Even I am sporting a shirt with buttons and a tie. Do not get me started on these dress shoes. I usually wear them for one or two hours at a concert. I hope my feet will last the whole day with them on.

I don’t get to see how my dragster does until the end, so that’s one thing I don’t have to worry about.

We also have to drop off our website design and won’t hear how we do until the end.

I sit for two written tests: electrical applications and technology bowl.

After, when I talk to my teammates, they thought they did well. I think I did well too. It was good to have studied with Jacob for both of these.

I haven’t seen him all morning. I wonder how he’s doing?

Next is lunch. I look for Jacob there and see he’s sitting with his friends. I sit with my friends and everyone talks about how they are doing.

Just after lunch, my same teammate as for website design, Aaron, and I go to the live testing of electrical applications. I have no idea what the schematic wants us to do. We do our best, but don’t finish it – the light does not light up at the end. Oh, well.